


Something we can rely on

by alchemise



Category: The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Action, Broken Bones, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Imprisonment, Loss of Powers, Rescue, Team Bonding, headache
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-02-29 21:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18786127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alchemise/pseuds/alchemise
Summary: How did you stop an enemy who knew everything about you: both your weaknesses and how to cancel out your strengths?With great difficulty, it turned out.





	Something we can rely on

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sholio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/gifts).



> Takes place sometime after the most recent seasons, with everyone's powers in full working order.

**Park 1: Rescue**

Matt tried, again, to get a feel for what kind of room they were in. It seemed, to him, like a strange space for must have been a prison cell inside an office building: long and narrow, with a low ceiling. Cold, stone walls surrounded them. There was the vague shape of a lightbulb overhead; Matt didn't know if it was on. He couldn't feel any heat from it, but that wasn't saying much given his present circumstances. Danny was slumped against the opposite wall, only a few feet away. Matt knew if he reached out his foot just a bit he'd be touching Danny, but that would probably only cause him more pain.

There was nothing Matt could do for Danny right now, so he focused again on trying to figure out where they were and if there might be a way out. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

There was a _noise_ coming from somewhere. Being pumped straight into their cell, as far as Matt could tell. Although he couldn't actually tell any details about the room. Or anything at all. The noise cut right through Matt's senses, at a frequency so grating it made it impossible to concentrate on anything else. He didn't think Danny could even detect it. It was as though it was designed intentionally to disrupt Matt's abilities, turning his entire world blurry and out of focus.

He thought there might be a door somewhere in the room (they had to have been put in there somehow, after all), but everything was too fuzzy to make out details. He'd been knocked out of commission, as good as if he were unconscious. It had all been so deliberate.

And it was a strategy that made sense, given what they'd done to Danny.

Their captors had clearly known how the Iron Fist channeled his power, so they'd targeted his hands first. Matt wasn't even sure exactly what kind of weapon they'd hit Danny with; he'd been too preoccupied with the sudden overwhelming noise and accompanying headache. The part of him still instinctively trying to fight had noticed Danny go down, clutching his arms to himself as blow after blow landed elsewhere on his body. They didn't even need to beat Matt in that way. His inability to focus past the noise made him easy to take down without more than a few bruises to show for the fight.

Matt was barely hurt, yet he had no clue if he'd be able to get them out of the room they were stuck in, not to mention fight past any enemies they encountered. At the same time, Matt wasn't even sure Danny would be able to walk. He was curled in on himself, leaning against the wall, and cradling his arms. Every time Danny shifted, he'd let loose a little grunt of pain.

Trying to ignore the noise as best he could, Matt focused all of his senses on Danny. The result was the same as the last time he'd managed the check-up. Multiple broken bones in both hands and forearms. Two, or maybe three, broken ribs. Possibly a hairline fracture to one clavicle. Matt paid the closest attention to Danny's vital signs: lungs and heart were still going strong. There was no medical care he could provide Danny, so the least Matt could do was to try and keep tabs on how he was doing.

That done, Matt returned to concentrating on the walls and found a fuzzy space that seemed different than all the other fuzzy spaces. He figured that was where the door must be. He focused beyond it and could just make out the shape of a person on the other side. Vague, no details, but definitely a person. They were standing still; Matt assumed they must be a guard.

The noise overwhelmed him then—the headache piercing through his skull. Matt stopped paying attention to anything and tried to just breathe. He wondered if meditation could help him find a way to block out the noise. Assuming he could even focus well enough to meditate. A change in Danny broke through Matt's attempts, moments before Danny spoke.

"They know us, don't they?" Danny asked softly, his voice tinged with pain. "What we can do?"

Matt didn't think it needed to be stated but reluctantly agreed since Danny seemed to want to talk. "Yeah, they seem to know a lot. I don't know how."

"We're in trouble, aren't we?" Danny's voice sounded hesitant, like he didn't want to admit that he was scared. The emotion sounded strange coming out of Danny's mouth. Matt didn't blame him though; it wasn't a feeling he liked copping to either.

Danny moved slightly, probably trying to find a more comfortable position, and even with Matt's blunted senses, he could hear two pieces of one of Danny's ribs rub against each other. Danny gave a slight gasp.

They really were in trouble.

Matt was about to say something reassuring—and likely bullshit—when _something_ changed. He turned his head toward the door and tried to detect what was happening beyond. He realized there was an empty space where the guard had been. Though still limited by the noise, he couldn't sense anyone outside the room at all. Something had drawn their guard away. He didn't dare hope what that something might be, but regardless, it was also their best chance to do something about their situation.

He turned back toward Danny and stood, ignoring the pounding in his skull. "I'm going to need your help." Danny gave a weary nod, and Matt admired his determination.

Moving as carefully as he could, Matt helped pull Danny to his feet. Matt tried to support his weight as best he could, with Danny's left arm braced across Matt's shoulders and Danny's hand held gingerly away from their bodies. Matt had his right arm around Danny's back, avoiding his broken ribs, although Matt couldn't be sure he'd accounted for all of Danny's injuries. Despite such care, the movement clearly hurt Danny, but he was gritting his teeth and bearing it for all he was worth.

They approached the door, and Matt stopped them where he was pretty confident they were right in front of it. He still couldn't make out any details. "I need you to tell me what you see. Describe the door."

It was obviously not the instruction Danny was expecting. "What do you mean? I can't see much of it now; there's barely any light in here, but I think it's just a normal door."

Matt tried to remain patient. "I can't focus on it. Not like usual; I can't see like I normally can. I need you to tell me everything about it. What it's made of. How it's reinforced. What the lock might be like. Everything."

"Okay, I get it, but it's just a normal wooden door, like in a house. I got a look at it when we were brought in."

Matt frowned and reached out his left hand, feeling for the door. He hadn't thought to do so before then; he'd felt so much more blind than usual with his ears not working right that it hadn't even occurred to him to use his sense of touch. The noise was definitely messing with his thought process.

The door felt like an ordinary, thin, wooden door. Exactly like you'd find in any house. Not reinforced steel or anything elaborate like he'd been expecting to keep them in this prison. Danny was right.

Matt was utterly confused. "I don't understand. What kind of cell is this?"

"Matt," Danny said his real name, giving up on any pretense that their opponents didn't know who they really were. Although that was assuming anyone was listening. Which Matt had been; he'd just figured he couldn't hear the sound of the cameras over the noise, but maybe he'd been wrong. He felt completely off-balance and unsure of what was going on. Danny continued, "We're not in a prison; we're in the house they brought us to. In a root cellar or something."

Matt turned his face to Danny in horror. "What do you mean brought us? They ambushed us in the office building we were investigating. Then dragged us into this cell."

Danny spoke quietly and calmly, clearly trying to help Matt hold it together. "We were attacked. They took me down, hard." That got a brief pause before he continued. "They hit you with some kind of sonic weapon. My ears are still ringing from it, but you, you were knocked out entirely. For at least an hour. They dragged us into a car and drove us to this house. I don't know where it is or who it belongs to. Matt, you were awake when they pulled us out of the car. You seemed confused, but you were awake."

Matt leaned Danny awkwardly against the wall so he could clutch at his own head in pain. None of it made sense. He didn't remember anything between the fight and being in this room. And even since then, his thoughts had been scattered. It was so hard to concentrate on anything.

He turned to Danny and asked, pleadingly, "Can you still hear the noise?"

It took Danny a minute, probably trying to pay attention in spite of his own body's painful distractions. "Yeah, faintly. I can't tell where it's coming from. Maybe there's a speaker somewhere?"

It was enough. Matt wasn't losing his mind. _They_ really were doing this to him. Again, Matt wondered just who they were up against. Whoever it was knew their weaknesses to a tee and had brought them to this house for unknown reasons.

But Matt wasn't ready to give up yet. Sure, one of them could barely stand and the other hardly see, but it wasn't over. Matt would get them out of there, no matter what.

First though, they needed to get through the door. Matt still couldn't rely on his enhanced senses to make out the exact details of the door, so he reached out again with his hands and felt along it, noting where the hinges and latch were.

Then he stepped back and kicked as hard as he could.

The door—the stupid, lightweight, wooden door—burst open with a bang.

Matt strained to sense the hallway beyond but was fairly certain there was no one near. He carefully arranged his shoulder back under Danny's arm and slowly moved them into a hallway. Danny's breathing came forcefully and painfully with step. But they were moving.

Only a few steps beyond the room, the silence hit Matt so hard he nearly staggered from it. The _noise_ was gone! His senses came rushing back, although the headache lingered. Suddenly he knew all the space around them, could see it in the way he did. He stretched his senses and could make out the layout of most of the basement they were in. Then the floor above them. And, in the distance, fighting. His head still hurt too much to try and determine exactly what was going on there, but he figured it had to be a good sign.

They made their way slowly down the hall, toward where Matt could detect a staircase. He worried about how slowly they were moving and if anyone thought to check on them, but whatever was happening upstairs seemed to be occupying all of the guards.

When they reached the stairs, Matt realized he could make out voices coming down from above. From the fight. And they were familiar voices.

Matt couldn't make out the exact words but clearly heard Jessica, and judging by her tone, it likely involved a lot of cursing. Then Luke saying something dismissively as he must have thrown somebody across a room to crash into what sounded like glass.

Their friends had come for them.

Carefully, step by step, Matt pulled Danny up the stairs toward those wonderful sounds of fighting and resolve. At the top of the stairs, Matt opened the door into a kitchen and found Luke and Jessica standing amidst a lot of bodies.

Luke sighed in obvious relief upon their arrival, but it was Jessica who spoke. "Oh good, here I thought we'd have to search this entire fucking mansion just to find you two. What the hell happened to you guys?" Matt couldn't mistake the sound of worry in her voice.

"Help Danny, I'll explain when we're out of here."

Luke stepped toward Danny and simply picked him up, cradling Danny carefully in his arms, while whispering, "I got you. I got you."

They made their way quickly out of the house, following the path of destruction Jessica and Luke had made. As they headed toward an unfamiliar car that Matt assumed had been stolen in a hurry, he heard the sound of laughter from somewhere inside the house. Somehow, Matt knew it was intended for him to hear and that this was far from over.

 

* * *

  

**Part 2: Takedown**

How did you stop an enemy who knew everything about you: both your weaknesses and how to cancel out your strengths?

With great difficulty, it turned out.

They'd all faced people before who targeted their powers. Jessica knew exactly how useful super-strength was when your mind was being controlled by someone else. And she'd seen how great Luke's indestructible skin was, when he was suffering from his brain swelling from the inside. Matt and Danny had shared similar experiences: drugs, concussions, injuries that muted or blocked their abilities. They knew that next time, they might all be targets and would need to be prepared for whatever this madman might throw at them.

Jessica was the one to figure out who he was, naturally. A Mr. Hyden, with a past filled with holes even she could only barely fill in. It was obviously an alias and one she assumed was based on too much reading of _Dr. Jekyll and…_. Hyden had avoided New York previously, taking over with swift cunning the criminal operations in first Pittsburgh, then Chicago, and most recently, Toronto. He moved on as soon as his operation what about to be taken down—by law enforcement or vigilantes like themselves. Hyden then picked up stakes and established himself in a place with an existing power vacuum that he could slot into and build up quickly.

With Fisk back behind bars again and the New York underworld in chaos, it looked like Hyden decided it was time to go big. Jessica had found traces of his influence in various criminal activities, diversified like both Fisk and the Hand had done. He'd clearly studied his predecessors and learned not to reveal himself until he had the power to take on any challengers.

Namely, the four of them.

The best they could figure, Hyden had gone after Matt and Danny just to test them all. How their powers worked, their response times, how hard they'd fight for each other. The house itself was bullshit: a temporary property set up just for the four of them. Hyden had abandoned it the next day. But Jessica had already noticed cameras throughout the house, spotting them here and there while taking down Hyden's goons. From a fight that lasted only minutes, he could have plenty of data on how they fought to find all of their weak spots: something he obviously had a knack for.

With that thought, Jessica looked over at Danny, who was having the most trouble recovering from the ordeal in Hyden's house. He's refused the hospital, predictable. Jessica assumed out of some stoic bullshit, but she had to admit she agreed with him. There was no way the hospitals weren't being watched, given how badly Danny had been hurt.

The first few days after the rescue had been dicey. Matt slowly got all of his senses back to normal working order, although the headache had lingered for a while. But Danny had multiple broken bones to deal with and, a day after bringing him to the safe house they were all camped out in (a property belonging to Fisk, actually, that the government had never connected the dots to but Jessica had), Danny had developed a fever. Jessica wished for probably the only time ever that Luke and Claire had worked out, because they could have really used the help of a nurse. Instead, Danny was stuck fighting through it on his own. They'd taken shifts at his bedside, with cool cloths and medication to bring down his temperature.

It was a long forty-eight hours of Danny in a fever-induced haze, while the rest of them debated whether they should take him to the hospital anyway.

But finally the fever broke, and since then, Danny had spent most of his time meditating. Jessica figured he was gathering his qi or whatever, in order to heal himself quicker. It was working, too, even if he seemed really impatient about the whole thing. It had only been a week since breaking Matt and him out of the house, and Danny was already looking better.

Which was good, because they were close to figuring out a plan to take down Hyden. They'd managed to flesh out some of the details of his operation, but most of it was still obscured. He was talented at what he did and did not take risks if he could help it.

So they'd come up with a plan. A potentially deeply stupid plan, but Jessica thought that was kind of par for the course with the four of them. And they were determined to keep it the four of them, which was made easier by Hyden choosing to attack when Colleen was out of town on some kind of qi retreat or something to deal with her newfound powers and Ward was on the other side of the globe finding himself; Misty was hip deep in a joint NYPD-FBI investigation; Jessica still wasn't on good terms with Trish and had just told Malcolm that he was fired for a couple of weeks; and Matt had left some cryptic message for his friends about a new threat in town and they needed to stay low (shockingly, this time they'd listened). All told, they were on their own, and they preferred it that way.

Instead of worrying about how Hyden might target their loved ones, they only had to worry about how he'd go after the four of them. They knew the kinds of tactics he might use again on Matt and Danny, but they were also planning for how he might counter Jessica and Luke's abilities as well.

For Matt, Danny was able to place a call into some Rand technology subsidiary and produced a pair of adaptable noise-cancelling earplugs. They would emit a frequency that countered anything detected above a certain pitch. Even Jessica had to admit they were pretty cool.

For Danny, the key was to protect him while still leaving him able to move. With Matt's Daredevil outfit-maker gone, they'd had to come up with something more rudimentary and hope it was enough. Plated gauntlets and an armored vest were the best they'd managed. They could only hope he was recovered enough to use them when the time came.

For Luke, they figured the attack would come in the form of something that could get under his skin, so to speak, such as poison or gas. They couldn't come up with a defense against every possible intrusion, but hoped the fancy tiny gas mask Jessica had "acquired" for him would do the trick.

For Jessica, she was vulnerable in the same way Matt and Danny were. They all needed costumes to protect them and were pretty crap at actually wearing anything useful. Even Jessica reluctantly agreed that her usual style offered no defense at all. So they were going with what they could throw together. Leather and Kevlar, covering vital places but not impinging on movement too badly.

All of them knew these measure were only a stopgap. Someone dedicated, like Hyden, would probably find a way through. That's where their plan came in.

Hyden had seem them fighting for each other, but fighting individually. He hadn't seen them work as a team.

Of course, the main problem was that they had almost no experience working as a team. They'd done it once, all four together at Midland Circle. They'd been going on instinct then, trying to cover and back up each other when needed. This time, that might be exactly what they needed. Matt and Danny had gotten themselves out of their not-terribly-impressive prison by working together and making up for each other's injuries. That kind of teamwork might be the only way to deal with whatever Hyden had planned for them.

And that was exactly what their plan hinged on; they knew that Hyden would go after then, and they just needed to be prepared when it happened.

"If we're wrong, if Hyden doesn't act first, we're just giving him time to build up his power further." Luke was fiddling with the gas mask. He obviously hated the idea of knowingly walking into a trap, but it was the best they'd come up with.

Jessica was annoyed with the argument; they'd been going around for days on it. "Well, if you can find out where he's hiding then maybe we wouldn't be stuck waiting. But last I checked, I was the only PI here, and I can't find him anywhere."

Danny didn't chime in. He sat on the edge of his bed, slowly flexing his fingers. He was obviously still shaken by what he'd been through, and Jessica couldn't blame him. At least he could move his hands now.

Instead, Matt spoke up, quietly. He'd clearly been ready to go for days. Wanting revenge or justice or exactly whatever it was that drove him so relentlessly. "Getting him to underestimate us, to think we're rushing headlong in for vengeance, is a good play. He'll take the bait, trust me. He knows we're the main obstacle keeping him from the control he wants."

In the end, it was a good thing they'd prepared as much as they had.

They were ambushed while looking into a warehouse that appeared to be a focal point for a new smuggling operation with Hyden's name all over it. The four of them had been poking into a number of similar setups over the past few days, expecting that Hyden would strike at any one of them. Jessica was glad he had taken a while to set his trap, as it had given Danny a chance to regain his strength a bit more, which they were likely to need.

Hyden targeted all four of them at once. Jessica saw Matt wince in pain at something she couldn't detect and quickly turn on his high-tech earplugs. He snapped back to alertness immediately; that was one known obstacle taken care of.

The lights were next to go, leaving them dependent on Matt to call out what he could see and the rest of them could not.

Then the gunmen started shooting, from four different directions, so Luke couldn't block them all at once (although he tried). At least they could see the muzzle flashes to track where the enemies were coming from. Jessica took a grazing shot to her leg, making her stumble and cry out. Matt charged at one of the group of gunmen's locations, moving in a pattern that seemed to anticipate where they would fire next and then quickly dispensing with them. Danny gather his qi into his hand and projected it into the ground, directed at the second group. The pallets they were crouched behind exploded into wooden splinters, as the gunmen were thrown back. Jessica ducked behind a random piece of machinery bolted to the ground, then pulled it free from its moorings and threw it as hard as she could at the third group. There was a loud crash and the firing from that direction ceased. She could just make out Luke walking toward the last group, his arms outstretched, trying to catch as many bullets as he could. Obviously the gunmen doubted exactly the degree to which he was bullet-proof, because they just kept firing at him. Once he reached them, he didn't give them time to fully appreciate their mistake before rendering them out of commission.

Danny grabbed Jessica's arm to support her. He was breathing hard and looked a little wobbly, but he was still standing. She was grateful for it. Her leg burned from the graze, but at least it wasn't bleeding much.

It was time for this fucker to show himself; all of their research indicated that he was too arrogant to let his goons finish them off without him delivering the final blow. "Is that it?? You think a few guns are going to stop us??"

Luke returned to them looking concerned. "Jess, I wouldn't. We don't need him getting any more creative."

Knock-out gas canisters burst open in the room. Luckily, they'd covered this one. Luke had the only real gas mask, in case he was targeted specifically; but just to be safe, the rest of them had a small oxygen tube stashed on their person (Matt was of course the trickiest to figure out where to hide it, what with his preference for skin-tight outfits). They were discreet and hopefully not visible through the growing fog and darkened room. The four of them pretended to collapse from the gas. So far so good; everything was still going according to plan.

Just as predicted, Hyden showed up to finish them off. As the lights turned back on, Jessica could just make him out past her arm that was covering the tube to the oxygen. He had what looked like a dozen more thugs with him, all armed to the teeth. While Hyden had bought their fake-out, he apparently wasn't going to go down easy.

Matt was the first to jump into the fight; she figured he only had so much patience for such tricks. The rest of them followed moments after.

Jessica couldn't help but be impressed; they were an exercise in teamwork. As Hyden turned to flee, Danny channeled his qi again into a shockwave, forcing the nearest goons aside and creating a path to their boss. Jessica took advantage, throwing herself toward Hyden and pulling him back into the fray. A blow to her stomach knocked him loose, but then Matt was there to put him into a headlock. Luke calmly blocked the headshot intended to put Matt down. They tried to keep their enemies engaged in hand-to-hand, hoping to reduce the threat of firearms. She saw a wicked long combat knife come down on Danny's arms. The makeshift gauntlets held, although he cried out in pain from the force of it. When a punch to Matt's face knocked out one of his earplugs, Jessica rushed in to take hold of Hyden as Matt crumpled clutching his head. She could just make out the annoying whine that to him must be like a rocket going off next to him. She reminded herself to make a joke about dog whistles later, once they got out of this mess.

The fight didn't last long after that. Once the goons were dispatched, Hyden gave up, clearly knowing he was beaten.

The four of them were a mess, but it didn't go nearly as badly as it could have. Even once they located the sonic weapon and destroyed it (Luke smashed it into flying bits of circuit boards and speaker parts with a single blow), Matt was still left wincing from the lingering headache. Danny was cradling his arms again but didn't seem to have any new injuries. Jessica leg throbbed and was bleeding again, but she knew she'd heal quickly. Luke, of course, appeared unscathed, as usual.

They dropped Hyden off with an organized crime detective Luke had gotten the name of (Jessica had thoroughly checked her background to ensure she was clean, after Matt explained just how many cops Fisk had had in his pocket to support his rise to power). They handed over all the evidence of Hyden's growing operation as well. Jessica only hoped it was enough to make a case.

Afterwards, they ended up back at the safe house. It was actually in a rather useful central location for the four of them. Jessica thought it might be worth hanging onto.

"It's like our secret team lair," Danny suggested with a smile that made it so she couldn't tell whether he was being sarcastic.

She just stared him down. "Not a chance in hell. It's just a safe house."

"Well, a team safe house, then," Luke chimed in.

Matt looked vaguely uncomfortable with the idea but annoyingly didn't back her up.

They'd grabbed some takeout Indian food on the way back, Danny ordering enough for five people on his own but offering it all to the rest of them to try. Even exhausted, with his qi drained and nasty bruises on his still-healing arms, he couldn't seem to resist wanting to share. Jessica had slipped into a liquor store while waiting on the food; she decided Danny must be rubbing off on her because she poured each of them a glass of her favorite dirt-cheap whiskey.

They tended their wounds: mostly scrapes and bruises. Even Jessica's bullet graze only required a few of Matt's careful stitches. Sitting there with food and whiskey in her belly and surrounded by what she had to grudgingly admit might just be teammates (and even possibly friends), she knew that what they'd done, taking Hyden down so quickly, was sure to make them a target for even bigger enemies who had their sights set on New York. But if they could continue having each other's backs like they had the past week, then at least they wouldn't have to fight those future battles alone.


End file.
